Orenda Books signs Essie Fox’s decadent, captivating historical thriller Dangerous
Karen Sullivan, publisher of Orenda Books, is delighted to announce the acquisition of World English Language rights for Essie Fox’s Dangerous, in a deal negotiated with David Headley at DHH Literary Agency.
The book opens in 1819, when the disgraced Lord Byron is living in exile in a palazzo on the Venetian Grand Canal with his menagerie of pets and an illegitimate daughter, revelling in the freedoms of the city. But when he is associated with the deaths of local women, found with wounds to their throats, and then a novel called The Vampyre is published under his name, rumours begin to spread that Byron may be the murderer…
Already convinced that his life is cursed, Byron is further dismayed to read the book and realise that the blood-sucking villain of the title has been based on his own tarnished reputation. As events escalate and tensions rise – and his own life is endangered, as well as those he holds most dear – Byron is forced to play detective, to discover who is really behind these heinous crimes. Meanwhile, the scandals of his own infamous past come back to haunt him…
Karen says, ‘Lord Byron is unquestionably one of the greatest-ever poets, his life marked and marred by scandal, as he defied societal norms and unapologetically pursued passion, his troubling misogyny as shocking then as it is today. And yet he remains a figure of some allure, his decadent lifestyle still paradoxically fascinating. Essie has dropped us into his opulent world, a lavishly described piece of historical fiction that is as dark and seductive as the reputation of the poet himself. The canals of Venice come alive, as Byron struggles to clear his name, and to find a murderer – or is it a vampire? – implicating and impersonating him.
‘Rich in gothic atmosphere and drawing on real events and characters from Byron’s life, Dangerous is a riveting, dazzling historical thriller, where fact and fiction collide, audacious crimes are committed, revenge and vampiric myths take centre stage, and passionate love affairs, imprisonment and the strange story of a mummified corpse on the monastery island of Lazzaro all build to a crescendo of suspicion and high-stakes mystery.
‘Byron’s character is uncannily drawn, his Venice both visceral and sumptuous, and Essie drops the reader straight into the heart of an extravagant mystery, a perilous investigation, and the threat of the supernatural hanging low over it all. Her language is elegant, pitch perfect, completely and utterly redolent of the age, of the man. I was transported, angered, saddened and entranced and completely gripped by this extraordinary book, with its unexpected flashes of wit, and on the 200th anniversary of his death, I can think of no better time to announce its publication.
‘Despise the man or adore him, readers will be enchanted by this fictional portrayal of an astonishing period of Byron’s life, and it is, quite simply, a masterpiece.’
Essie says, ‘I’m so delighted that Orenda will be publishing my first historical crime thriller – a fiction based on fact – and one that also reflects my passion for the gothic. It was a dream to imagine a memoir that reveals secrets of Byron’s life in Venice, in which his personal connection to a novel called The Vampyre threatens to trap him in a web of murderous deceits.’
David Headley says, ‘This is a timely book, a beautifully told story focusing on a strange and intriguing period of Byron’s life in Venice, reimagined as a truly captivating fictional mystery. In Essie’s hands, it’s simply magical.’
Dangerous, by Essie Fox, will be published in glorious hardback by Orenda Books, in April 2025. For more information, please contact Karen Sullivan: Karen@orendabooks.co.uk.
